


Repetitive Strain Injury

by Latteatnight



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, M/M, Sickfic, Yusuke take care of yourself challenge, acknowledging madarame's effect on yusuke is my kink, akira is a caring boyfriend, madarame is mentioned, no beta we die like men, projecting on yusuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25528237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Latteatnight/pseuds/Latteatnight
Summary: For the first time in 20 years, Yusuke Kitagawa is forced to take a break from art.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Kitagawa Yusuke, Kitagawa Yusuke & Persona 5 Protagonist, Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 75





	Repetitive Strain Injury

**Author's Note:**

> Small little fic,,, it's the first time i write a fic be gentle,,,

“Yusuke…”

“Hmm…”

“Yusuke, get up.”

The artist laid on bed, wearing the same frown from a few hours ago. 

“C´mon… I made your favorite…” 

He did not want to be angry or grumpy at Akira. His frustration was definitely not directed at him, but he did not know where exactly to direct it. The source of his unhappiness laid on his chest, with a splint that wasn’t very aesthetically pleasing.  
Repetitive Strain Injury. After getting some intense wrist pains, his boyfriend dragged him to the doctor and this was the diagnosis. Apparently, something common in aspiring artists. It wasn’t anything severe, the doctor gave him a splint and recommended him to rest for two weeks. The problem was… 

In 20 years of his life, Yusuke Kitagawa had never taken a break from art. 

He made art ever since he had memory. He made art through Madarame’s abuse. He made art through the uncertaintly of his new freedom. His answer to any problem in his life was to make art. 

Any problem but this one, apparently. 

He sat on the bed and finally got up. A dark blue lock falling in front of his eyes and almost immediately, a pale hand fixing it for him.

“Cheer up, we can find something else for you to do this two weeks, okay?” 

He didn’t respond. “Something else to do” would probably bring inspiration, and inspiration right now brought nothing other than pure frustration. He thought constantly about simply… not following the rule. Cheating and draw even just the smallest sketch. But the alternative of avoiding resting was surgery… and that would certainly be worse. He felt, quite literally, hands tied.

In his defense, his partner was trying his best. Yusuke knew, consciously, that being annoyed solved nothing. He had finally met the limitations of his own body. It was the consequence of putting always art first, and his own wellbeing second. Something that Madarame had drilled into his and every other pupil’s head. First art, then yourself. You can starve, you can ache, but the creation of art comes first. And Yusuke genuinely thought this was one of the only good advice his “sensei” had left him. 

Akira noticed the lingering sadness on Yusuke’s eyes, and was trying his best to ease the pain. Not only on the artist’s hand, but the emotional pain that he knew for a fact that this situation brought him. The fridge had ingredients to do his favorite foods, and he even bought some ice cream for dessert. However, every action was met with a small smile and a few words of gratitude. 

As he finished cooking, serving the food in the plates for them to eat, he placed the plate in front of him with a kiss to the top of his head, that made Yusuke widen his eyes a bit in surprise. Affection was something that always seemed to startle him, even after two years of being together. A bit of color appeared on his cheeks. 

“Where’s Morgana?” Yusuke asked, noticing the absence of the feline on the table. 

“With Futaba. I don’t know what they wanted to do. Maybe Futaba just wanted to cuddle, She’s been missing him ever since he moved out with us. And Mona secretly enjoys being spoiled by Futaba and boss…” He replied, and checked his phone for messages. Indeed Futaba was already spamming his inbox with cute pictures of Morgana.

The bluenette grabbed his spoon with the only free hand that he had, and digged in. It really did have something special, this curry. It managed to give him a small, genuine smile. It didn’t take long for both of them to finish his food, and the ex-leader caught Yusuke in a tight embrace. 

“So, I also bought Ice cream, so what if we put on a movie, and eat the ice cream in bed?” Akira proposed, nuzzling against his boyfriend’s neck. He could do the dishes tomorrow. For now, comforting his sad artist was priority number one. 

“Very well, I can’t say no to ice cream, can I?” Finally softening up a bit, Yusuke complied and went to their room as the other man rushed to the fridge to grab the icy treat and two spoons. 

\----------------------

Yusuke had his head laying on Akira’s chest, listening to his heartbeat as he watched the movie. The bluenette tried to pay it attention, but it kept slipping out his hands. 

“You know, you think very loudly.” He heard, and was forced to snap out of his thoughts.

“My apologies, did I bother you?” 

“Not really…” He paused the movie that Yusuke was clearly, not watching and turned to face him directly. “It’s better to talk about what’s on your mind, rather than keeping it all bottled in. Do you want to talk?”

His long slender nose let ouf a sigh and his eyes looked down avoiding his boyfriend’s gaze upon him. 

“I just have been thinking… about this injury and about my way to approach art. It’s all so heavily influenced by Madarame… It’s been three years since I escaped his abusive ways.” His eyes started to look like cracked glass, about to break down in tears any second now.  
“Why… Why is he still following me, the thoughts he implanted in my head… I’m really… so… stupid…”

Akira’s heart broke down in pieces and instinctively leaned forward to embrace Yusuke in a hug as the latter finally broke down in tears. It was easy to see how technically, the injury in Yusuke’s wrist right now, the injury that was causing all the impotence and frustration, was indeed Madarame’s fault. 

“Listen to me, you’re not stupid. At all. You… Madarame abused you for so many years… It’s not your fault you can’t break out of everything he taught you in so little time. It’s only been three years, Yusuke. Don’t expect yourself to instantly unlearn everything.” He moved away just enough to grab his head, and force the crying bluenette to look at him in the eyes. 

“Yusuke this is not your fault. And you will learn to take better care of yourself because of this. You’re not an art machine as he taught you to be. You’re human.” He resumed the hug, and finally felt Yusuke hugging him back. Akira just moved to kiss his tears away. It was cheesy, but affection like this was something the artist always needed and could never have enough. 

“I just… I feel so empty… with my ability to create being taken away from me… even if temporarily, I feel…. Castrated. Like I can’t be myself without it.” Yusuke managed to voice out, after calming down a bit. Akira’s hand kept running over the blue locks, softly caressing and moving them away from his face. 

“Yusuke you’re… You’re not art. You’re a person, you can do other things. You’re not only an artist. There are other things that you can do even if you can’t create any new pieces right now.” Bluish eyes looked at him, dumbfolded. He had always thought.. quite the opposite. Being an artist was his identity. The fact that he made art was something that made him different from anyone else. “We can go to the museum, we can go to the park and eat more ice cream, hell, it’s summer vacation, we can even go to the beach if you want. And you don’t need a sketchbook to appreciate any of those things. You’re also a phantom thief, remember? Being an artist it’s not your only identity. You’re a great friend, and you’re also my boyfriend. Artist Yusuke needs a pause right now, but all your other aspects can still function normally. I saw a lot of my food lover Yusuke today, for example. Food is something you can enjoy without it being related to art creation, am I wrong?”

“You’re… You’re not wrong…”

“So, are you worth anything less because you have to put yourself first instead of art?” 

“No… I’m not.”

“Putting yourself first won’t make you a bad artist. In two weeks I bet you will do an amazing painting. I’m sure of it. ”

Yusuke nod still wiping tears from this long eyelashes and cuddled close to Akira’s chest eventually falling asleep. Emotionally tired already, Akira followed right after. 

The next two weeks, the phantom thief made sure to keep his boyfriend busy, looking for other activities for both of them to pick up instead of painting. 

And after those two weeks, Yusuke’s wrist wasn’t the only thing that was healed.

**Author's Note:**

> 1425 words of me projecting onto Yusuke because i can't draw bc RSI,,,, haha,,,,,, don't mind me,,,, this is my useless attempt to have another fandom related hobby that isn't drawing


End file.
